Traditional ways of marketing are no longer as effective in bringing in those conversions that marketing managers expect. While still maintaining a significant hold, they are quickly being taken over by the array of solutions tackling new during and post-pandemic trends. But you probably already know that, and that's why you’re here! In this article we'll talk about Social Media Retargeting: what it is, its benefits, and some effective practices.
With effective social media integration, brands across borders are being recognised and respected amongst a sea of potential customers.
This has further afforded them crucial support in capturing those new markets.
All thanks to the higher powers of Social Media Networks.
Which leads us to the part where I tell you that to reach your prospective clientele more efficiently, choose a marketing mix that best suits your business, and do not neglect digital media under any circumstances.
Before we begin with targeting and retargeting customers, let’s go through a quick recap by discussing what Social Media Integration is.
It can be broadly defined as the process wherein you link your business’ website with your digital media channels like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Behance, and so on and vice versa. You provide links for your social network on your website so that a web visitor can not only check out your products and services in an informal setting, but also so that it becomes easier for them to view your regular updates. At the same time, you also share your website link on all your social profiles so as to drive traffic to your site.
Once you have footfall coming in from both these mediums, retargeting of potential consumers becomes considerably simpler as it helps you maintain a regular rapport with the masses in a way that intrigues them and creates a need for your product while also enhancing the recall value of your brand.
When you have an influx of queries, leads, and referrals, a sale to them becomes that much easier.
But when all you have is a probable user surfing the net and coming across your products, how do you escort them to a point where they feel the need to invest in it for their own benefit? And how do you ensure the person seeing your advertisements is a part of the target audience you intend to have?
That is where Social Media Targeting & Retargeting comes in.
Targeting and Retargeting predominantly make use of online advertisements to entice prospects. While targeting only aims to ensure that the right person, i.e. lying in a certain geographic and demographic range is viewing the ad, retargeting goes a step ahead to make certain that the audience for those ad campaigns also includes the people who browsed their website, engaged with a post, searched the pricing of a product or service or simply have items waiting to be purchased in their online cart.
However, a key point that too comes to mind when discussing this approach is a major mistake many marketers make. What they do is think of this practice as only a part of promotional activities. However, compiling it with customer experience and communications can make a huge difference in how an existing or prospective customer views your services.
While we explained above what retargeting through social media channels entails, remarketing requires collecting the potential consumers’ information and then attempting to persuade them to begin or complete a purchase through emails and push notifications.
When I say track, I do not mean chasing them around offline or online. All I refer to is tracking their activity on your website, from their email id to the pages they clicked on.
Inserting a simple JavaScript code, Pixel, on your site ensures that the visitor’s actions on the same are being traced. Once they exit the page, this information is then passed onto the Ad Networks you are using which in turn tells the browser what advertisements are to be displayed and to whom.
To organize and manage the database so acquired, you can further use CRM software, like SuperOffice, to retain this valuable data for analysis at a later point. The email ids so gathered can be used for retargeting as well by uploading them to the Ad Network you work with and wherever the same mail address is used, your ad will pop up based on their previously recorded activities.
Picking and choosing your target audience based on various factors like their geographical location, demographics, likes and dislikes, and more ensures that the viewers of your promotions are people who are either interested or can actually use your product or service.
Sending out an advertisement about a personal loan to a millionaire sounds a little weird to me. What about you?
Instagram launched its dynamic advertising feature in 2016 wherein the ads displayed to a particular user do not only depend on their interaction with your brand or company. If they viewed or expressed interest in any product or service with similar features as yours, they will be seeing an advertisement from you as well.
Video advertisements as you very well know appear in the beginning or duration of numerous YouTube videos or even in multiple Facebook clips and videos. Using your ads here can be very beneficial as often a viewer might just look at the entire promotion just because they don’t want to stop viewing the very interesting or funny or informative clip they were watching.
This increases the recall value of your brand as well which is great because, in their minds, your name starts becoming synonymous with certain features or services they may require in the future, if not now.
Also read: 7 Tips for Social Media Video Ads
What some marketers fail to notice sometimes is that not all digital platforms are the same and thus the same promotions may not work everywhere. Besides some of these channels have their own ways of promoting you as well and you would not want to miss out on those. Instagram’s dynamic advertisement feature that we discussed above is a perfect example of the same.
By now I’m sure you’ve grasped in entirety the importance of social media engagements and re-engagements when it comes to capturing the vast, unexplored, unconquered market in front of you.
I’m also confident that the tactics I’ve shared here will definitely help you get some amazing results when it comes to conversions and sales.
Fingers crossed! And Happy Reading.
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Short-form Video on Social Media - Technical Infographic
Social Media and Artificial Intelligence: A Match Made in Heaven?